Tacky or tactful? E-cigarette use growing, more businesses ban smoking in Huntsville

"I think e-cigarettes are such a new phenomenon that we won't know the full effect until state and local regulations are enacted that may or may not affect their use," he said.

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – Standing in line at PetSmart in early March, Huntsville resident John Allen's wife found herself surrounded by a cloud of vapor.

View full sizeNo smoking signs like this will begin to crop up in Orange Beach if the City Council amends its existing ordinance banning smoking in public places and places of employment to include e-cigarettes. (City of Orange Beach)

Two women at the checkout counter were using e-cigarettes. When they left, the clerk told Allen's wife that "vaping" inside the chain pet store was not OK.

"Such arrogance, rudeness and presumption by e-cigarette smokers is astounding," Allen told AL.com a few days after the incident. "This was not the first episode my wife had experienced with e-cigarette smoking inside a business."

In an unscientific AL.com poll in May asking readers if they believe e-cigarette use should be prohibited in public places, 64.8 percent said no and 35.1 percent said yes.

Eco Smoke, an e-cigarette store in Huntsville, is now offering store discounts to local companies with employees who smoke. Co-owner Chris Ray said some businesses allow workers to vape in the office, which improves productivity by reducing the number of smoke breaks employees take throughout the day.

"It's been OK, I guess," he said, adding there have been no issues with e-cigarette use at the bar and grill. "I think it's hurt us during the week, but has helped us during the weekend when we're really busy. ... There's been a lot of people who have said they've come in since we've been non-smoking."

Smith said they have discussed lifting the ban, but even the staff members – most of whom are smokers – are against it. In the meantime, Voodoo is selling e-cigarette kits for $23 and single disposable e-cigarettes for $7.50.

Chad Emerson, executive director of Downtown Huntsville, Inc., said it's difficult to know what impact the use of e-cigarettes over traditional smoking has had on local businesses.

"I think e-cigarettes are such a new phenomenon that we won't know the full effect until state and local regulations are enacted that may or may not affect their use," he said.

The Bottle, formerly known as James Steakhouse, went non-smoking earlier this month. Spokeswoman Nicole Wood, who said e-cigarettes are not allowed inside the Washington Street restaurant, said The Bottle has accommodated smokers by allowing them to eat on the outdoor patio.

Wood said they hired a company to clean the entire building, ducts, air conditioner and walls before it reopened as a non-smoking establishment June 2.

"We've had tremendous success by going non-smoking with The Bottle," she said. "I believe that downtown is going in a different direction, and that Kaffeeklatsch and Voodoo Lounge may have set the way and others will be following suit."

The survey also asked whether Americans would approve or disapprove of e-cigarette use at public places that typically ban smoking. Fifty-eight percent of respondents approved of allowing e-cigarettes at sporting events, followed by malls (47 percent), restaurants and bars (45 percent), in an office (35 percent), on public transportation (35 percent), in a movie theater (29 percent) or on an airplane (26 percent).

"Because the e-cigarette is a relatively new consumer product, there are a lot of questions about government regulation and whether these devices should be allowed in certain places," said John Wiesehan Jr., co-founder and CEO of Mistic.

Madison resident Matt Spencer is accustomed to breathing in smoke in public places. When he was the frontman of Fistful of Beard, Spencer and his bandmates often played at smoky bars and venues.

Calling e-cigarettes a "hit or miss," Spencer said he's OK with people using e-cigarettes in open-air settings or at bars and restaurants that allow cigarette smoking.

"I do not, however, think it is fine for people to use them in settings where the smoking of regular cigarettes is prohibited," he said. "It's pretty tacky to use one while you're sitting in a restaurant booth adjacent from a family with kids, or even worse a baby."